A tale of toilets and transparency
For two weeks in April, Wheeling's wastewater treatment plant spilled millions of gallons of untreated sewage into the Ohio River. The city's residents were not informed of the issue until now.
WHEELING, W.Va. — When the public thinks about what happens to the waste in their toilet the conversation typically starts in the bathroom and ends with a flush. Folks trust that the rest will be taken care of; and, for the most part, everything is taken care of.
In the City of Wheeling, waste is transported from consumers as north as Clearview, as east as West Alexander, Pa., and as south as McMechen, to the Water Pollution Control Division (WPCD) wastewater treatment plant in Center Wheeling. This waste travels in a sewer system that combines stormwater and consumer waste.
On a normal, dry day, the wastewater treatment plant in Wheeling processes eight to ten million gallons. When it rains, the system quickly becomes overtaxed, leading the sewer to overflow raw waste and debris into the city’s streams and Ohio River. This isn’t unique to the city—at least 700 communities in the United States operate a similar system.
WPCD discharges untreated sewage into the river and area streams virtually everytime it rains. During the April 13 flooding event, untreated sewage spilled into the river for at least two weeks. Despite that, the public was not made aware of any issue until the media—Wheeling Free Press included—began reporting on millions of dollars in requests for repairs proposed at city council meetings. Here’s what happened.
April was anything but normal for the WPCD. Wheeling saw a month’s worth of rainfall in a matter of three days—over five inches in some areas. Already saturated from rainfall in late March, the Ohio River crept up to 41.5 feet on April 5. On April 13, the river again reached flood stage as waters crested at 37.8 feet.
As waters rose on April 5, the plant, in an effort to avoid overworking the system, closed two gates that allow waste into the facility resulting in the sewage WPCD would normally process being discharged in the river through the combined sewer overflows (CSOs). This is standard procedure for the plant and documented by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection.
On April 12, as the river began to rise for a second time, the plant moved to limit its flow by closing their influent gates. This time, a mudslide combined with a failed generator caused a loss of power to the plant resulting in minor flooding of the facility. After 40 minutes, power was restored and flow continued with one pump damaged in the process.
Twenty-four hours later, WPCD began taking on water in the plant triggering staff to close the influent gates. While their computer sensors indicated full closure, water continued to flow into the plant. A still unknown object was blocking one of the gates from shutting. Staff repeatedly opened and closed the gate to clear the foreign object causing the gate to detach from its track.
The remaining operational pumps that keep the facility dry failed causing over 30 feet of water to flood the WPCD’s “dry pit,” containing much of its mechanical equipment. This caused extensive damage leading to a 100% loss of functionality. The eight to ten million gallons of sewage that typically flow through the plant inevitably spilled into the Ohio River over a two week period of time.
WPCD’s wastewater treatment plant is now back to full capacity, albeit with a lower quality effluent due to the loss of equipment that remove large debris from the waste.
The issue here isn’t necessarily the discharge of untreated sewage into the river. As mentioned, this is something that occurs as a result of our city’s combined sewer system and is monitored by the WVDEP. As well, the city is required to sign areas where CSOs are located. The problem is a lack of public awareness regarding the discharge.
When asked what requirements there are for municipalities to warn their citizens about CSOs, WVDEP Chief Communications Officer Terry Fletcher stated that “The [city] shall develop and document procedures to provide to the general public…information concerning CSO discharge occurrences and their impacts to water quality in the receiving streams.” WVDEP guidance says these notifications are to be made via “newspaper public notifications, newspaper advertisements, public service announcements on radio and/or television.”
None of these public warnings were made by the City of Wheeling’s administration. Wheeling Free Press became aware of CSO discharges in May when a concerned citizen spoke to this reporter after witnessing untreated sewage discharging near the WesBanco Arena just 500 ft from the mouth of Big Wheeling Creek. That concerned citizen also observed several people fishing downstream of the WesBanco overflow. This area also serves as a popular spot for kayaks and lightweight water crafts to launch or disembark.
It is difficult to determine the level of risk for people recreating near a combined sewer overflow. The City of Louisville, Ky. sees 75 billion gallons of water flow past it daily. At the same time, that does not consider the slower-moving current close to shore compared to rapid flow in the middle of the river.
Either way, the public should be warned when CSO discharge is occurring so they may make their own decision on whether or not recreating on the water during these events is in their best interest. The public only became aware of the significant damage at WPCD–estimated by their consulting firm to be between $2 and $3 million–after successive city council meetings with a deluge of requests for repair costs–currently totaling over $1.5 million as of publication.
The City of Wheeling’s administration should have acknowledged the CSO discharge and WPCD spill when it happened. Transparency is key, but with this issue the doors remained locked. In our modern, ever-skeptical society, it behooves us all–including our government and media–to be consistently honest and open about what’s occurring in our communities.